Photo/Illutration Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, right, and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol hold bilateral talks on the sideline of the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima on May 21. (Pool)

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida plans to meet South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol in Lithuania to make his case for the release of treated radioactive water into the ocean, according to Japanese government sources.

The bilateral talks will be held on the sidelines of a NATO summit in the Baltic country scheduled for July 11 and 12.

Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, met Kishida in Tokyo on July 4 to present his agency’s final report on the controversial plan, paving the way for the water discharge, which is planned to start this summer.

Kishida has repeatedly pledged to provide a scientifically based explanation on the release of treated water from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in a sincere and highly transparent manner.

However, the plan faces strong opposition from the local fisheries industry as well as neighboring countries including China, South Korea and island nations in the Pacific.

Japanese officials are also arranging a four-nation summit with South Korea, Australia and New Zealand during the NATO meeting to discuss the project, which is expected to last for decades along with the decommissioning of the plant. 

Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi is also seeking opportunities to discuss the matter with Park Jin and Qin Gang, his South Korean and Chinese counterparts, on the sidelines of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting that will start in mid-July in Indonesia.

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